The Father And Son Relationship In Homer's Odyssey

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“It is not flesh and blood but the heart which makes us fathers and sons.” -Friedrich Schiller In this essay I will be discussing the father/son relationship in Homer’s most famous poems. The father in The Odyssey whom is Odysseus and his relationship with his son, Telemachus who becomes more and more important over the course of the story. Like Odysseus, Telemachus is undertaking his own journey in an important side supporting story to Odysseus 's return voyage to Ithaca. By examining this side story and the character and trials of Telemachus, the reader is able to tell how Ithaca will go on once Odysseus dies. Telemachus is clearly following in his father 's footsteps, and Ithaca will be in good hands. There are many obvious facts that are identified about the nature of a father-son relationships in Homer’s most famous poems The Odyssey and The lliad, before you can even start reading the story. Such as the person …show more content…

The relationship between Odysseus and Telemachus is compelling, especially when the reader compares their affection and alliance in contrast to the father-son relationship that Priam and Hector had. These two father-son pairs serve as different examples of the types of father-son relationships that the ancient Greeks were able to embody and express. Between Priam and Hector there was a certain degree of love and respect, but it was not sentimental at all. It is not until Hector is dead that Priam actually allows himself to express how he feels towards his son, and it is distinguished that he does so by appealing to Achilles’ relationship with his own father. It is even more significant that his appeal to the enemy’s sense of devoted loyalty and emotion worked in his

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